Cohousing communities are intentional neighborhoods: residents are consciously committed to living as a community; the physical design itself encourages that and facilitates social contact. The typical cohousing community has 20 to 30 single family homes along a pedestrian street or clustered around a courtyard. Residents of cohousing communities often have several optional group meals in the common building each week.

Founding members planning the project.

The Main Characteristics of Cohousing

1. PARTICIPATORY PROCESS.
Future residents participate in the design of the community so that it meets their needs. A well-designed, pedestrian-oriented community without resident participation in the planning may be “cohousing-inspired,” but it is not a cohousing community.

2. NEIGHBORHOOD DESIGN.
The physical layout and orientation of the buildings (the site plan) are designed to create a strong sense of community and facilitate spontaneous interaction. For example, the private residences are clustered on the site leaving more shared open space, the dwellings typically face each other across a pedestrian street or courtyard, and cars are parked in centralized parking or on the periphery.

Presentation of plans by Bruce Coldham, architect, and Walter Cudnohufsky, landscape architect.

3. COMMON FACILITIES.
Common facilities are designed for daily use, are an integral part of the community, and are always supplemental to the private residences. The common house includes a common kitchen and dining area for large community meals, a sitting area, children’s playroom and laundry and may also have a workshop, library, exercise room, crafts room and one or two guest rooms. Cohousing communities often have playground equipment, lawns, and gardens as well. Since the buildings are clustered, larger sites may retain several or many acres of undeveloped shared open space.

4. RESIDENT MANAGEMENT.
Cohousing communities are managed by their residents. Residents also do most of the work required to maintain the property, participate in the preparation of common meals and meet regularly to develop policies and do problem-solving for the community.

Studying the Site Plan sketch during a Programming Session with the architects.

5. NON-HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURE AND DECISION-MAKING.
In cohousing communities there are leadership roles, but no one person or persons who has authority over others. Most groups start with one or two "burning souls" but as people join the group, each person takes on one or more roles consistent with his or her skills, abilities or interests. Most cohousing groups make all of their decisions by consensus, and although many groups have a policy for voting if consensus cannot be reached after a number of attempts, it is very rarely or never necessary to resort to voting.

6. NO SHARED COMMUNITY ECONOMY.
The community is not a source of income for its members. Occasionally, a cohousing community will pay one of its own members to do a specific (usually time limited) task, but more typically the task will simply be considered to be that member's contribution to the shared responsibilities.

*Excerpted from the Cohousing Association of America web site. You can view a PowerPoint presentation of the above at the web site of Kraus-Fitch Architects, designers of several cohousing projects. You can hear an audio presentation of this slide show by Chris ScottHansen, a cohousing consultant, at SlideShare.